Return to Me
by hey.its.evyp
Summary: This fanfic is Bagginshield, Kiliel, and has a lot with an OC and Fili. It's about what happens after the Battle. It takes place in a semi-modern AU (they have phones, TV, modern food, semi-modern clothes, but everything else is the same).
1. chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE (Editing

-Bilbo-

"So this is the hobbit," I hear once again in my head. Never have any words caused me to feel so many emotions.

It doesn't matter that he was trying to be menacing when he said it, but the way he smiled afterwards still melts my heart.

Thorin Oakenshield. It's too bad that I had to leave Erebor, and just as I was beginning to come to terms with my feelings for him.

We were sure he was dead. We carried his body down to the hall, and we were about to announce his death to his nephews, when Gandalf said that he was in fact still alive.

I thank Gandalf for forcing me into this adventure in the first place, or I would have never met Thorin.

I pull out my phone and go to my photos. The most recent one was the one I've been looking at since I left. It's me and Thorin. Like nothing had happened. We look so happy. It was right before I told him I was planning to go back to the Shire.

He thought I would stay with the dwarves in Erebor, and I wish I had, but the truth is, no matter how much I love the dwarves, I miss Bag End.

I think I'll go back someday though. Now that I've spent a year with Thorin, I don't know what life will be like without him. Certainly more boring.

Gandalf says we're only a day or two from the Shire, and we might stop in Rivendell before we head to Bag End.

My phone makes a singing sound as a notification pops up. I haven't seen one of those for a while. I had no service since I left the Shire, and I actually lost my phone in Mirkwood. Bofur bought me a new one after the Battle of the Five Armies.

It's an update from Instagram. It's Kili and Tauriel in front of the newly rebuilt Dale. I was so happy that Fili and Kili were wearing steel mail during that battle, and that Gandalf got to them quickly, or they would've been dead.

Wow. I'm going to miss them so much. They protected me when Thorin threatened me before the Battle. I hope they're happy.

I sniff, and reach for a handkerchief. I pull it out, but it looks different. It has a word stitched into the corner, something in Dwarvish, I can't read.

"Gandalf," I call to the wizard. "What does this say?" I hand it to him.

"Well. It has the same markings as those on Kili's runestone from his mother. Loosely translated, it says 'return to me'. Now Bilbo, my good friend, it seems someone wanted you to stay in Erebor," he answers with a smile.

I smile too, tears in my eyes. I don't think I'll stay in the Shire for long.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO (Editing)

-Fili-

"Uncle!" I call, running through the great stone halls of Erebor.

I never thought I would get to see it. When Azog stabbed me in the back and let me fall, I was so sure it was the end. But it was not. And for that I am so thankful. I get to have an entire life in Erebor, the home of my fathers. And, the home of another from my family.

"Uncle," I call again. "Thorin," I say, running into the Gallery of the Kings, where I find him standing.

Thorin Oakenshield, the heir of Durín, and King Under the Mountain. My mother's brother.

He turns around slowly, brushing his finger at the corner of his eye, putting his phone into a pocket of his coat.

"Yes Fili, what is it?" He asked, smiling as he steps over to me.

I can hardly contain my excitement, and I nearly scream it at Thorin: "My mother. Your sister, Dís, she has arrived, with Mili too!"

Thorin smiles widely. "Fili why didn't you say so. By all means, let us go and greet them."

We run through the Galley and to the front gate. Kili and Tauriel are already there, Kili hugging Mili, with Tauriel standing politely behind, her eyes full of love.

"Mother!" I shout, running to my mother and throwing my arms around her, kissing her on the cheek.

"Oh my babies! All together again. And all in one piece," she says.

"I told you they would be fine, Dís," Thorin says cautiously, with his signature smile, hoping to avoid any upset from Mother.

Kili stands up and Mother notices the binds around his knee.

Shrieking she exclaims, "What is that? What happened to you? Thorin tell me what happened or so help me..."

"Mother. Please calm down. I'm fine now," Kili says. "I was shot in the knee, with what I have been told was a Morgul shaft."

At this, Mother covers her mouth in shock.

Mili, our little sister, leaning on her crutch, whispers with pain, "A Morgul shaft? They are poisoned. As are the blades of Orcs. The only thing that could save you from Morgul poison would be..."

She trails off, her glance shifting to Taurilel. "Athelas. Kingsfoil."

Tauriel nods. "Yes. Another of the Company left behind on Durín's Day brought it back to the house of Bard, and I used it to save Kili."

Mother looks doubtful. She, like Thorin, doesn't trust elves much, and I wonder how she will take the love between Tauriel and Kili.

"Did you, she-elf?" She asked. Tauriel nodded, and though my mother is by no means the tallest dwarf-maid, she seemed to loom above Tauriel with power, for she is a daughter of kings, and as tough as any.

"I did, and a close kinsman of mine, Legolas, killed the Orc fifth, Bolg, that nearly killed Kili when he came to save me from attack during the Battle," Tauriel said with pride.

"Perhaps we have been wrong about elves, brother. For twice that I have yet heard, they have saved my son," Mother said.

I heard Kili lightly exhale a sigh of relief.

Tauriel bowed to my mother and to Thorin, and walked out of the room.

Mili looked up at me, and whispered in my ear when Kili turned to watch Tauriel leave, "Are they in love Fili?"

I smile. And nod. And I whisper back, "I think so, Mili."

She smiles and hobbles on her crutch to Thorin. He takes her hand and leads her away to show her the Gallery of the Kings, something she's wanted to see her whole life.

Her steps are pained, though she doesn't let anyone but Kili see. And once again, I'm left alone.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE (Editing)

-Kili-

I follow Tauriel out from the front gate, and up to the overlook above the bridge.

I find her staring into the sky, the sun now sinking into the lake, and beyond, the vastness of Mirkwood.

I know she could hear me walking behind her, but still I announce myself.

"So? What did you think of Mother? Bit frightening, no? I told you she worries," I laugh as she faces me. But my laugh fades as I see her face. It is grave and a bit sad, something I have not seen since the end of the Battle.

She walks over to me, and I feel my blood warm me and rush to my face. She brushes a piece of hair from my forehead.

"Your sister, Mili. What happened to her? I can tell from how she holds herself and her crutch that she was not born this way, and the damage was done fairly recently."

All the warmth drains from me, and I remember what happened. I choke back tears, and my love swells for Tauriel, and I silently thank her once more for saving my with the kingsfoil.

"Please, Kili. Tell me. I want to know. Did it happen when you were on the escort trip you told me about? When you saw the firemoon?" Tauriel said, her eyes shining and pleading.

I pull out my phone and turn it off, as to prevent any possible interruptions. Tauriel notices and does the same. As she does so, I catch a glimpse of her new phone case.

"What's that? In between you phone and the clear case you bought?" I ask, pointing at it.

Tauriel blushes, and handing it to me, I look at her case. What I saw was a picture. I laugh as I see that it's me and her. The one we posted on Instagram, in front of Dale. I smile, handing it back to her. She puts her phone away, and sits cross-legged on the stone ledge of the overlook.

She looks at me expectantly as she sun fades behind her and the stars begin, one by one, to shine through in the sky. I hop up to sit beside her, and she takes my hand. I take a deep breath and begin the tale.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR (Editing)

-Mili-

Thorin leads me into the Gallery of the Kings. I've heard so much about Erebor in my short life. And 42 years of stories have by no means lived up to the glory and beauty of my new home.

"And this is where we poured the molten gold on Smaug," Thorin said as we walked onto the golden floor of the hall.

I take a step forward and stumble on the slick gold. My crutch slides out from under my arm and my left leg sears with pain. I let out a sharp cry, not able to hold it in.

I crumble to the ground, grasping at the bottom of the back of my leg, closing my eyes and letting the pain slowly fade away, until it is but the normal, dull burn.

As soon as I fell, Thorin rushed to me, trying to help me up. I don't let him. I push his large, comforting arms away, curling up into a ball from the shame and throbbing pain that I have been forced to live with every day of my life.

"Mili," Thorin says after a while, "Would you like to go rest for a bit?"

I shake my head. "Could you take me to the forges?" I ask, hoping to get away.

Thorin nods, and he hands me my crutch as I stand up, trying to not put weight on my left leg.

He shows me the forges, and they're amazing. But it's not as exciting as when I first arrived. After he takes me to see the Arkenstone set in the king's throne, he tells me to go rest. I'm exhausted, so I don't object.

He leads me through tall and wide passages of stone, to the area with housing. He takes my into the 'house' he's set aside for close family. There is a small bedroom across from his that he takes me into.

"This isn't the room I originally had planned for you. Yours isn't ready yet, and I'm sorry. But until it is, you can use this one," Thorin says, and I catch him brushing his finger by the corner of his eye, as if he was making sure nothing was there.

He leaves me and closes the door behind him. I look around the room, taking note of how small everything is. It's the perfect size for me, but I'm quite small for my age. It doesn't seem that it was made for a dwarf at all.

I wonder whose room this is, or was supposed to be, and where they are now. Certainly they're not here, or Thorin wouldn't have brought me here. I suppose it doesn't matter right now.

I sit on the bed, which is soft, but smaller than what I'm used to.

My dark blue dress only goes to my knees, so I'm wearing a pair of tight pants underneath of a dark, earthy brown. Mother said that it makes me look even more like Kili, which made me smile.

I pull the left leg of my pants up so they hang just above my kneecap. I turn my leg over so I can see the back of my calf, and the cause of my pain.

I look at the gash that runs from just under the back of my knee to a few inches above my ankle. It's about as wide as my thumb, and almost as deep.

Since its been almost an hour since I fell, the wound is almost the same shade of my skin, a warm but somewhat light tan color, much like the other members of my family.

However, the gash is fleshy pink as always, but I'm sure that right when I fell, it was deep crimson, the color of the blood than ran from it when I got it.

The worst of the pain has subsided now, but it still throbs, as it has done as long as I've had it- 2 years now.

I pull my pant leg back down to my ankle again and tuck it back into my dark brown boots. They are old and worn, and they used to be Kili's, but they are comfortable and warm, and I wear them quite often.

I sigh and stand up. I walk a few paces around the room without my crutch before deciding to take it under my arm once more.

I've never been one to sit around for long, even with my leg how it is, so I walk out of the room to maybe find some food, or company.

I walk up to the stone overlook above the front gate. I'm about to walk out onto it when I see Kili and Tauriel there.

I hide behind a pillar to hear what they're talking about, hoping to hear some profession of love.

Instead I hear Kili say, "Then the Orc grabbed her ankle, trying to pull her off the ledge with him. But Fili and I weren't going to lose her yet. We held fast, and it looked like we were going to get rid of the Orc when he suddenly yelled something and Black Speech and hewed a giant gash in her leg with his wretched blade before letting go of her ankle and falling to death on the raging waters and rocks below."

At this Tauriel gasps and I almost throw up. He is telling her. Kili is telling her what happened to me.

My leg throbs sharply again but I don't care. Ignoring you leg, I run down the stairs and back to the room Thorin left me in.

I collapse onto the bed and begin to sob, my dark and wavy hair burying my face in a mess of braids and curls. I wish even more for company. But it doesn't come that night.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE (Editing)

-Thorin-

I leave Mili in the room across from mine, and then go into mine and lock the door, sitting on the carpet in front of my bed.

I had that room specially furnished. Everything is a little smaller than in the other rooms. Everything is sized for a hobbit. I had it made that way because I was so sure that Bilbo was going to stay.

I pull out my phone and put on a Panic! At the Disco playlist before I go to what I was looking at before Fili came in to the Gallery.

The last and only picture I took with Bilbo. I was so happy. The Battle was over, my dragon sickness was gone, and he was going to stay.

But then he said he was leaving with Gandalf. He said he would stay until I was officially crowned king.

I told him that would be in several months, because all of the dwarfs still had to come back to Erebor. It will likely be a year still from now.

When I told him that he said he was going to have to leave. I hid my reaction and let him go.

I cried when he left. Like I am now.

What have I become? I'm a king now. And I'm sitting on my floor looking a picture and sobbing.

I can't help it though. I'd never say it out loud, but I have to admit it sometime. I'm in love with him.

I love his smile. I love how fearless he is, despite his size. I love how his curly hair shines golden in sunlight. It's more beautiful than anything in this mountain. I love...everything. And he was almost mine. Almost.

I let out another sob and curl my knees up to my chest, resting my head on them.

I hope he saw what I stitched into his handkerchief, and that he will know what it means.

I hope he comes back for my coronation. I miss him already.

I wonder if he's back to his home yet?

I whisper into the dark, even though I know he won't hear: "Bilbo, where are you?"


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX (Editing)

-Bilbo-

"I'm here! I'm here!" I scream at the dozens of hobbits crowding around Bag End. I finally have cleared up the misconception that I'm dead.

I spend the rest of the day having all of my belongings returned to Bag End.

It takes about four hours, and now I'm exhausted. Panting, I finally step back into my home for the first time in over a year.

I am hit with an overwhelming wave of emotion. I swallow a sob and walk through the familiar halls of my childhood, and my whole life until the unexpected party.

I go into my bedroom and unpack my bag, placing all of my newfound gifts and treasures in a large wooden chest across from my bed.

Then I flop backwards onto my soft, warm bed. I put my earbuds in and turn on a playlist that the Company made for me, including each of our favorite songs.

I close my eyes and let my memories of each of them wash over me.

I know whose song is whose. Each song perfectly fits each dwarf's personality, I think.

Slow and sweet, violins come on. I open my eyes. I know what song this is even before words are sung: Trade Mistakes by Panic! At the Disco. I also know automatically whose song this is.

I pull my handkerchief out of the breast pocket of my shirt and finger the runes stitched on the corner again.

I smile as the words begin. I know it was Thorin who put the runes there. I don't think he cares about me the way I feel about him, but still, I'm sure he cares. He probably sees me as another Fili or Kili. That's of course not what I want, but it's better than nothing.

I feel exhausted, and as the bridge begins, I feel myself begin to nod off into sleep.

I wake up with the music off, and it is dark outside. I wonder how long I've been asleep.

I look at my phone. 11:30! I've been asleep for 8 hours! I don't think I'll be sleeping any more tonight, so I get up and go into the kitchen to fix myself something to eat.

I put some popcorn in my microwave and turn the TV on. My DVR box has 40 episodes of Chopped. I forgot I recorded it last year before I left. That means I now have a years worth of TV to catch up on.

I get the popcorn out the microwave, grab my phone, and sit on my couch to start watching.

After about three minutes, I realize how incredibly boring my life was before the dwarfs.

I check my Instagram. Four new pictures from Kili of him and a younger dwarf-girl who looks exactly like him, and from the captions, is his little sister Mili.

I follow her before noticing that someone liked over 300 of my pictures.

I go to the notifications and see that Thorin has liked everything I've ever posted since I got my account three years ago.

I laugh a little. I guess he misses me too. So, I go to my texts and send him a picture of my popcorn.

"Hey! I'm finally home! What's up?" I text him.

I put my phone down, expecting to not get a reply until morning.

Almost immediately though, my phone dings and I get a reply from him: "Cool. You can't sleep either?" with a laughing emoji.

I smile.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN (Editing)

-Fili-

I see Mili run off into the great stone halls as I sit behind a pillar, consumed by shadow.

Kili finishes his story and Tauriel stands to leave. She kisses him on the cheek and leaves.

I know she knew I was there, but I'm thankful she didn't give me away.

I stand and walk out to Kili. "Hey. Tauriel going back to her company's house in Dale?" I ask. Kili nods.

After Tauriel was banished, Bard decided to let her serve for Dale, along with a small company of elves from Mirkwood and Rivendell, to protect and guard Dale and the land around it.

"Kili," I start, "I think we should spend the day with Mili tomorrow."

Kili's face falls. "Oh. Tauriel and I were going to spend the day in Dale tomorrow..."

I interrupt him. "Come on Kili. You've spent every waking hour with Tauriel. She has work to do, and we haven't seen Mili in almost two years."

Kili sighs. Then he smiles. "You're right, as usual brother. I did miss Mili a lot. We can take her to see the city tomorrow."

"Good," I reply. "You know how much she needs us. Think how awful it must've been. No one for her while we're gone."

"What do you mean?" Kili asks.

"You know how the other kids treat her. Because of how she looks, and now her leg too."

Kili nods. "Yeah I know. Me and her look like elves. We're the laughing stock of our people." He turns back to look at Dale. "But look at us now."

I smile. "Come on, Kili. I'm tired and hungry. Let's go find ourselves something to eat and maybe we can watch a movie."

Kili laughs and says, "Mother better be asleep, or there'll be no getting away with anything!"

I laugh too, and Kili puts him arm around my shoulder.

We walk down to our room to have a snack and a movie.

We pass by Thorin's room and we stop in front of it when we hear sobs coming from within.

Kili and I look at each other. He furrows his brows and I shrug.

We slink to stand on either side of the door. Kili gently presses his ear to the solid oak door, we the way always did when Thorin and Mother would wrap our birthday presents, desperately straining to hear what they were.

The crying goes on for several more minutes, and Kili is about to knock to see if Thorin was okay when we hear him whisper, "Bilbo, where are you?"

Kili puts his closed fist down and turns his head to look at me.

We hear Thorin move inside his room, so we bolt down the hall, silent as mice, to our large bedroom.

I close the door behind me as Kili flops onto his bed, pulling off his dark boots.

I open our mini-fridge and get out two sodas and some chips from a cabinet.

Kili's laying on his back staring at the ceiling when I sit cross-legged on the huge leather trunk at the foot of his bed.

He sits up when I hand him one of the sodas and put the bag of chips between us.

My soda fizzes as I pop off the tab, almost the same time as Kili's. We laugh because we did that when we were little, too.

We sit in silence for a moment or two, each thinking about what he heard.

Suddenly, I blurt, "So what do you think that was," the same time Kili asks, "Do you think Thorin's in love with Bilbo?"

"What?" I ask, almost doing a spot take when I hear Kili.

Kili shrugs. "I don't know. But why would he be crying, and sounding that way, if he wasn't?"

I sigh and shake my head. "I don't Kili. I don't understand love."

"Yeah me neither," he replies, shoving a handful of chips in his mouth and washing them down with a swig of soda.

"Come on. Your the one dating an elf. And with those manners, I don't know how you managed it," I say this a laugh, tossing a chip at him.

He laughs. Then he stops. "I don't know. I'm worried about him, Fili."

"Fine," I say. "How about we take him with us to Dale tomorrow, show him a ton of things to remind him of Bilbo, and see how he reacts."

Kili stands up on the bed. "Fili, your an absolute genius! And afterwards, the four of can have a sleepover, just like old times, and get him to tell us then!"

"That's a fantastic idea! And Balin says we're thick," I reply.

Kili sits back down, an impish grin on his face. "We've got a plan."


End file.
